RESIDENTS of a Keighley neighbourhood worst hit by the Boxing Day floods took an important step towards trying to collectively secure Government funding to protect their homes.

More than 50 people representing 45 households in Stockbridge signed up to a plan to try and combine the sums of up to £5,000 being offered in flood resilience funding for individual homes hit by the floods.

If the bid to combine these separate grants is successful and backed by enough households, people living in unadopted streets in Stockbridge hope to have enough cash to at least partially fund a badly-needed programme to fix blocked drains in their area.

People in Hallows Road, Worth Avenue and the unadopted part of Florist Street have previously argued that the terrible state of infrastructure in their neighbourhood contributed to the severity of the latest floods.

Those present at a meeting in Keighley's Victoria Hall on Tuesday (February 9) overwhelmingly backed the collective application plan outlined by Keighley East ward councillors Doreen Lee and Malcolm Slater.

The event was also addressed by Bradford Council's principal building control surveyor Anthony Raby and Keighley East ward officer Sue Gledhill.

Cllr Lee said the chief fire service officer present in Stockbridge during the floods said he had never before seen drains in such bad condition.

She said the people living in the 90 homes on the unadopted streets are in an extremely difficult situation.

"You all know you live on unadopted roads which are the responsibility of the people who live there," she said.

"Even if you pay your rates three times over every year the council won't and can't do these repairs, because the roads belong to you. I live in an unadopted road myself, so this is something I know about."

She said that if all 90 households agree to a collective bid for the flood resilience cash, this could theoretically raise a maximum sum of £450,000 to fund one big infrastructure repair scheme for the whole of the unadopted area.

She and Cllr Slater warned that this approach is "unchartered territory" and could prove very complex to implement.

Cllr Slater said: "We're conscious that collectivising the grants of up to £5,000 is breaking new ground. I don't know of any other local authorities where this is being done.

Ms Gledhill said an element of trust would be required for what is a "small window of opportunity", adding that an initial sum of £450,000 could help unlock extra money from other sources to make up any shortfall.

Mr Raby said: "If we're going down the collective route we need to look at having an agreement in place within a week or two.

"Together with the application for the funding there would be need to be a preliminary feasibility study to show that what you want to happen is realistic. That study needs to be completed as quickly as possible."

Cllr Lee urged residents to canvas the views of those neighbours who had been unable to attend the public meeting.

A committee made up of people living in the unadopted streets was formed to take charge of the funding bid.